Troop 95 History

Troop 95 has a long history in the Medinah, IL area. It was originally chartered in 1961 to The Medinah Spring Valley Improvement Association with James Peterson, Scoutmaster (SM) and Leonard Norberg, Committee Chair (CC).  During the 60’s the unit earned many awards including the A-OK Unit award in 1962 and the Honor unit award in 1963.  The Troop started a tradition of holding an annual Pancake Day to earn money for the boy’s outings. The Troop quickly grew to a membership of 38 youth by 1967.  They were active in the outdoors and took many trips including Washington DC in 1966 and a trip to Yellowstone in 1969.  James Bruce took over as Scoutmaster in 1962 until Frank Wilke took over in 1968.  In 1969 George Hanna took over as Scoutmaster and along with Robert Hellem (CC) managed the Troop until the mid 70’s.

The 80’s and early 90’s brought a slight downturn in membership which ended in 1992 when a group of Scouts from nearby Troop 20 decided to join Troop 95.  This fresh group of Scouts and leaders and helped the Troop grow to what it is today.  Under the 10 year guidance of Jerry Tipperreiter the Troop flourished.  The Troop grew and remained active with High Adventure trips to the Florida Seabase, Philmont Scout ranch, Adirondacks Mtns in NY, Whitewater rafting in Colorado and West Va.  Starting in 2002, Wayne Kidd (SM) kept the troop hiking, camping and sailing including High Adventure trips to Philmont Scout Ranch, The Boundary Waters and Chesapeake Bay Sailing Base. In 2005, Don Rummelhart(SM) took the reins and continued these activities until 2012.  Don not only kept the Scouts active with outings, he also helped shepherd 20 Scouts to the rank of Eagle.  Today, under Mike Miller (SM) and many active assistant scoutmasters and committee members, the Troop continues to thrive.

As a boy led troop, the Scouts gather in July to plan the next year’s outings and events.  The tradition of having the boys earn money to pay for their trips also continues to this day with various fundraising opportunities.